Genuine freedom is possible only where there is genuine love. And genuine love is not possible without truth. Michael O'Brien More Quotes by Michael O'Brien More Quotes From Michael O'Brien Love is the soul of the world, though its body bleeds, and we must learn to bleed with it. Love is also the seed and milk and the fruit of the world, though we can partake of it in greed or reverence. We are born, we eat, and learn, and die. We leave a tracery of messages in the lives of others, a little shifting of the soil, a stone moved from here to there, a word uttered, a song, a poem left behind. I was here, each of these declare. I was here. Michael O'Brien greed song love-is J.K. Rowling is a talented storyteller, but she has also used the style and technique of modern television and cinema media, which seizes the imagination by pummelling it, bombarding it with powerful stimuli, in a rapid pace, with plenty of emotional rewards. Michael O'Brien emotional media powerful A rare objectivity and insight can be imparted regarding this world's struggle for spiritual integrity. In the land of Faerie, the reader may see his small battles writ large in the wars of titans or elves and understand for the first time, his own worth. Michael O'Brien spiritual integrity war Solitude is the natural dwelling place of truth…It is there you will wrestle. It is there you will be tested by fire and by darkness. Michael O'Brien dwelling-place darkness fire ...life without coffee is not really life. Michael O'Brien coffee Yet he saw that in all places there was originality, resulting from the human efforts at decoration and ingenious methods of survival. Michael O'Brien saws effort survival Providence The will of God acting together with human will. But he respects our will absolutely. He does not force. Love never forces. It only invites. ... There is a war between good and Michael O'Brien liberty acting war If creators of Christian culture hope to produce work that will bear good fruit, we must draw our life from the true source - our living Savior. He is real. He is present. But all too often we reduce him to an abstraction, giving him intellectual assent, but not our hearts. Michael O'Brien good hope work life Corrupt fantasy points us, or forms us, in a consciousness that can lead to thinking that evil is good and good is evil. In the worst case, this may have long range effects, prompting the reader intuitively, subconsciously, to do evil while thinking they're doing good. Michael O'Brien good evil long thinking I knew there would be some controversy over the 'Potter' series between religious people and secular-minded people - that was inevitable - what astonished me and continues to astonish me is the intense controversy that erupted very early on among Christians themselves, in all the churches. It cuts across every denominational line. Michael O'Brien some me inevitable people Harry Potter represents a much larger wave of cultural revolution that we're all immersed in, and I believe it's a spiritual revolution as well - a negative spiritual revolution. Michael O'Brien revolution spiritual believe negative There are indeed 'values' in the Harry Potter series, but they're confused with anti-values. Potterworld is a scrambled moral universe. There are Christian symbols in the series, but the author misappropriates them, mutates them, and integrates them into a supposedly larger and broader system where evil symbols are dominant. Michael O'Brien confused moral universe evil My Catholic faith is my life. Any artist, if he is to be faithful to how he perceives the world and to the nature of his creative gifts, cannot divorce the two. To create is to love. To love is to create. Michael O'Brien nature faith love life Love cannot long survive without truth. Nor is truth really truth unless it is integrated with love. Michael O'Brien survive truth love long It goes without saying that a good Catholic novel should be good craftsmanship, good writing skills. The creative person must always be engaged in the long labor of perfecting the tools of his art. Yet the work itself need not be explicitly evangelical in its themes and plots. Michael O'Brien good work long art Imagination is a screen onto which the evil spirits can 'project' images, temptations presented as stimulating entertainments, offering us pleasurable rewards if we give in to the temptation. Michael O'Brien project imagination temptation evil We must become a people who are in submission, that is, submitted completely to the mission of the Church, 'in statu missionis.' Thus, living fully within the mainstream of grace, under the mantle of God's divine authority, and by uniting ourselves to the obedience of Christ on the cross, we participate in the reversal of Adam's sin. Michael O'Brien church grace god people The Natural Law which God has written into our beings cannot be entirely eradicated, but it can be gravely deformed, leading to distortion of consciousness and conscience, and hence our actions. Michael O'Brien cannot conscience god law Healthy fiction, no matter how wildly it may depart from the material order, teaches us to love ourselves in a wholesome manner by loving our neighbor. Indeed, even by loving our enemies - at least by trying to learn to love them, and by believing that it is right to do so. With grace this is possible. Michael O'Brien enemies grace matter love Whether one is Marian or Charismatic or both, or prays in one or more of the many other ways open to us, it is all a flow of love, if the heart is truly speaking to and listening to the Holy Trinity. Personally, I pray the Divine Mercy chaplet every day. We pray the Rosary every day in our family. Michael O'Brien day family heart love
